No. 69 May 2009

Bill Third collecting a signature from Mrs J Woodward BOHEMIA BINS SURVEY: 87% SAY ‘NO’ Two St Peter’s Road residents Bill Third and John Humphries conducted a street by street survey of opinions on the Council’s plans to introduce… Read more

Doorway to Bohemias own, overgrown, walled garden The Bohemia Walled Garden Association had its inaugural meeting on Monday 26th January 2009, at the YMCA in St. Paul’s Road. Eight people attended. “We are still very far from doing any work… Read more

The Voice was contacted by a St Peter’s Road resident concerned about dog mess. Mrs Jo Hunter writes: “I have noticed recently, the large amount of dog mess on our streets. It seems to have got worse recently. There are a couple of examples… Read more

stop press COMMUNAL BINS – Council officers are now recommending that this scheme should not proceed. Reasons are published in a report today. Final decision will be made by the Cabinet on Mon 27 April, 6pm at the Town Hall, Queens Road. This… Read more

Maurice Goodwin has spent his entire working life in the garage business. At 20 years old he took over Elsinore Garage in Bromley from his father, and ran a successful business there for 40 years until last year, when he sold the site to… Read more

THE ORGANIC HOME – Samantha Monaghan, of Bohemia Road, and Mark Golding (pictured) recently opened their shop, The Organic Home, at 13 Kings Road, “as a flagship” in their aim to become a national company. The couple intend… Read more

A new business opened its doors in Bohemia Road in April. Copy Cats is Enzo Buscaglia’s first copy shop. He has a well-established photocopy machine supply and servicing business in Bexleyheath, London. “The manager of the shop is Tony… Read more

Teresa Clark, 42, of the The Haven health and beauty rooms in Bohemia’s London Road, says ‘Practically everything is false these days: hair, nails, eyelashes, tan – fake is in’. The Haven is Teresa Clark and Jacqui… Read more

Congratulations to all my friends and family who were born in the 40s, 50s and 60s. First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue… Read more

The Bohemia Walled Garden Association (BWGA) had its second meeting on 9th March 2009. The purpose of the meeting was to put the BWGA on a firm footing. The draft constitution was read through and unanimously accepted. Committee… Read more

A pile of old bits of wood in a front garden? No, Manami Cheves, of St Peter’s Road, has created a driftwood sculpture from items picked up whilst walking with her 5 year old son, Ellliot, on Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill beaches earlier… Read more

At the property and land auction by Clive Emson at Brighton on Wednesday 8th April, lot 104, described as a ‘double fronted shop unit with residential accommodation for investment or possible conversion’ was sold for £105,000. The… Read more

In February this year, the Southwater Area Residents Association (SARA), was awarded £10,000 from the National Lottery (picture). The award is being used to pay for the creation of a decorative ceramic tile wall to be fixed onto the wall at… Read more

Bohemia Road, in the early 1900s being laid with tramlines. (Picture kindly supplied by Geoff Northwood) A century ago Bohemia acquired its first tram The laying of tramways in this town began towards the end of 1904, so the photograph was… Read more

ICE CREAM – Alison of Bohemia Road’s Cheap & Cheerful store has splashed out on a ‘Mister Softee’ ice cream dispenser. “The machine cost me £1,000; I bought it from a shop that was closing down in Eastbourne;… Read more

Matches puzzle Take some matches and make up the design shown here. Can you remove three matches and re-arrange the remainder so that just two squares are left. No matches over, please. Answer… Read more

The monkey puzzle tree featured in our previous issue is to be found at 3, Upper Park Road. A £10 Empress Art gift token has been sent to the winner, Mr M Woodfine – well done! COMMENT Sylvia Tolcher writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, if I… Read more

Busy book fayre at St Peters in March This year’s book fayre was our most successful so far (writes Paul Rummery) with approximately 70 plus people turning up. We took in a total of £856 which went to St Peter’s. This is nearly double… Read more

CAKE BOX – celebration cakes from the Cake Box come in two ranges: fruit cake and sponge or chocolate. Both types are available in 8”, 10”, 12” and 14” sizes. Sponge is cheaper than fruit: for an 8” sponge cake is… Read more

Any man wanting a haircut will be pleased to hear that a new gent’s barber has opened recently at 130, London Road. Tracey’s Barbers, owned by 24-year-old Tracey Ozkan, occupies the small shop that in recent years has been, among other… Read more

Old Town resident Marchien Kuiper (pictured, right) is a regular early-morning swimmer at Summerfields Leisure Centre on Bohemia Road. It was on her way up from the town centre towards the end of March that she noticed something unusual lying on… Read more

As we go to press, the latest date for Hastings Council’s decision on implementing the planned introduction of communal bins into Bohemia is April 27th. St Peter’s Road residents Bill Third and John Humphries presented their petition… Read more

Diane Haberstroh writes from Bohemia, New York In 1977, New York State enacted a “pooper scooper” law to keep the sidewalks clean of dog excrement. In Bohemia, our code states: “No person owning, harboring, keeping or in charge… Read more

Bohemia’s streets are clean – it’s official! Three times a year Hastings Borough Council receives an independent publication, which lists and grades a selection of streets for each ward within the borough. It’s conducted by… Read more

Mike Hepworth is Head of Environmental Health. Apart from managing the Environmental Enforcement Team he also has a wide range of other duties. Colin Mee is the Head of Waste & Recycling. He manages 10 staff whose duties include managing… Read more

Bohemias perennial problem whats the council doing? What is our Council actually doing about the dog mess in Bohemia? In March, the Voice was invited to spend some time with the Hastings Environmental Health department to try to find out. The… Read more

When early-morning dog walker Mel Fisher of St Peter’s Road, saw three teenagers acting suspiciously her first thought was ‘Can I afford to call the police?’ Mel had her mobile phone with her when she saw the young boys trying car door… Read more

Lewis Nicholls writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, As a regular out-of-area reader of the Village Voice, I wonder if you could mention details of a Queens Road theft at the beginning of February of an original sculpture created by my aunt Margaret… Read more

Four new businesses have opened in Bohemia: Buchanan Florist and Gift Shop (p 1), Copy Cats Copy Shop (p 26) and Tracey’s Barbers (p 13). We report on what the council is doing about dog mess in Bohemia (pages 8-10). Edward Preston reminds us… Read more

A new series of accessories, ‘Tales of Old England’, is now available at Masquerade Fancy Dress shop in Bohemia Road. If it’s Victorian melodrama or murder mysteries you’re into, try out their moustaches, monocles and London… Read more

London Road received an unexpected boost recently when not one but two new retailers opened simultaneously. Buchanan Florist (pictured, right) and Buchanan Gift Shop occupy adjoining units that were once home, respectively, to the enigmatic… Read more

E Law writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, I am writing with concern as to the current state of disrepair and general dumping of rubbish along Springfield Valley (just off London Road next to the launderette). I have been picking up some of the litter… Read more

Patrick Vickers writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, recently, one of your regular writers, Vic Chalcraft, stated that he had seen pictures of bins in Edinburgh. Mr Chalcraft, instead of looking in the papers why not experience the real thing by taking… Read more

Bohemia Business Owner writes (may 2009) Dear Sir, I feel that Hastings Council has a mission to totally destroy all small businesses. My small business relies on fast, efficient delivery. Sadly, I am often served penalty charge notices. They… Read more

Paul Elmes writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, I refer to the few days in February when we had a bit of snow. The country nearly ran out of salt. I wonder if the snow and ice were sprayed with salt-water, would that do instead? In Hastings, we… Read more

Alison Kelly writes (May 2009) Dear sir, my family and I, unfortunately, recently had to arrange a funeral tea. We had no idea where to go, but I remembered reading an article about Tower House in your last issue. We spoke with Louise, about… Read more

Picture puzzle Where, in Bohemia, may this attractive, tiled doorway be found? A £10 gift token, kindly donated by Empress Art of Tower Road will be awarded to the winner. Closing date is 1st June 2009. Answer… Read more

Heather Grief writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, I’d like to suggest parking spaces reserved for shoppers from 9am to 5.30pm, with a 30min time limit to encourage people to stop & shop. I’d like to see two spaces each in Upper Park Road,… Read more

Patricia Vincent writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, I was disappointed there were no photos of Bohemia on your website. My ancestors lived there and today my family live in Sussex. Also to change the lovely garden (on your website) into a garden… Read more

Mel Fisher writes (May 2009) Dear Sir, I find the dumping of unwanted household goods in the street extremely selfish. I understand the council charges £10 for three items. To some people this is an amount they can ill afford. I would find… Read more

Dorothy & Keith Wood write (Mar 2009) Dear Sir, we would like to thank everyone who attended our leaving party at the Dripping Spring in December last year. It was a wonderful send-off. We’d also like to thank all our many customers for… Read more

Bohemia resident writes (Mar 2009) Dear Sir, I think the Voice is boring. There’s too much small print and not enough pictures or interesting stories. It seems aimed at the older generation. Let’s have more items which appeal to younger… Read more